Avengers: Age of Ultron

Such was the hype created for this movie, that we were not able to get tickets for the Imax show for the first day. Having seen the movie today, on the 3rd day, I wish I had gone in with zero expectations. The hype that was created for this movie didn’t justify the price of an Imax ticket. (Yes, I want my money back!)

The plot in a nutshell: we have Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye battle it out with a new creation: Ultron, robots created with artificial intelligence designed to annihilate the world. Ultron, recruits the help of two new character, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who want to avenge Iron Man for causing their parent’s deaths. The sub-standard plot pretty much follows our group of Avengers united to fight a common enemy, then disunite and bicker and banter between each other before they all regroup for our final battle scene. Throw in Nick Fury and that woman from How I Met Your Mother, along with witty one liners and sarcasm and we have heroes saving the world once again. Just like they all did in the previous movie.

So what went wrong?

In my opinion, too much reliance on special effects. There was no soul in the movie. It became unreal and artificial. There was no one we cared for. Ultron and all the robots outnumbered the humans in the movie, and that was a downer. After a while, you didn’t want to see a robot spurting out lines in his robotic voice. Just like in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, there was an over reliance on special effects which got boring after a while.

The plot/ story line is another downer: predictable, boring and lackadaisical. I couldn’t find myself engrossed in the movie. I didn’t care about the characters, or their fate. I didn’t care if any one died or not. I didn’t care who the enemy is and how he will die. I didn’t care if Hulk and Black Widow are developing romantic liaisons. There was no sense of danger or threat. We all knew that no one will get hurt and that they will eventually save the world.

Having said that, the only major plus point was the fight sequences, which were brilliantly choreographed and staged (in fact, they were so immaculately choreographed, a sense of an organic fight sequence was lost in the process). The opening scene set the tone for thrilling fights and chases and near misses. There was some joy in witnessing the arrival of new characters: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. However, these fight sequences were not enough to keep me awake during all the other scenes when there was no action. Spoilers Alert: one of the characters dies, and it was the one who I was beginning to like a lot in the movie. For me it was all downhill once this happened.

Avengers Age of Ultron will go on to make lots of money and will be declared a massive hit. Sequels have been planned for 2018 and 2019. People will flock to the cinema to watch it. The comic book fans will be super excited by this movie. As for me, I prefer the previous installment The Avengers Assemble.

On an end note, you know there is something wrong with the movie when you realize at the end how excited you got by the trailer of Jurassic World at the start of the movie. Now that is one movie which seems very exciting!